Best Escalation of the War on Drugs

A full two decades after Nancy Reagan brainwashed a generation of elementary school kids into saying no to drugs—or tried, at least—you might think busting people for real controlled substances would be enough to keep the authorities busy. You’d be wrong. Not satisfied with arresting people for using things like marijuana, which they’ll soon be able to get a prescription for here in D.C., law enforcement recently moved to make fake pot illegal. Known as K2, or spice (after a popular brand), the synthetic weed apparently mimics the high you get smoking actual marijuana, thanks to some blend of chemicals that varies from brand to brand. D.C. Councilmember Phil Mendelson had proposed a local ban before the federal Drug Enforcement Administration made K2 illegal nationwide. The irony, of course, is that the chemical may actually be dangerous, unlike the real stuff. Now in the eyes of the law, at least, they’re exactly the same.